Combination sleeping garment and cover



Oc 20, 1959 J. w. DARLING 2,908,912

COMBINATION SLEEPING GARMENT AND COVER Filed March 19, 1958 INVENTOR JWDarZin ATTORNEY United States Patent COMBTNATION SLEEPING GARMENT AND COVER James W. Darling, Tarpon Springs, Fla. Application March 19, 1958, Serial No. 722,498

2 Claims. (Cl. 2-83) This invention relates'to a novel combination garment, particularly intended for use as a sleeping garmennand cover for infants and young children, which includes a covering element worn upon the backlof the user that will coverhim when in a prone, or prone-natal position; will be disposed beneath when ina .supineposition; will retain its position on his back while either standing, sitting, creeping, or walking; and that will permit him full freedom of movement at all times.

Customary sleeping garments currently in use require the infant or young child to be dressed at bedtime for the room temperatures which will prevail in the'colder early morning hours. This is vusually accomplished by either covering the entire body of the infant or young child in heavy, blanket type material, sleeping garments or by using lighter sleeping garments combined with heavy bedclothing.

Either method greatly restricts, and much to his discomfort, the body movements of the sleeping infant or young child. The former provides too much warmth at bedtime and the wearer is invariably uncomfortable and fretful until bedroom temperatures are much lower. The latter provides a constant source of worry as the sleeping infant or young child may easily smother in its attempts to seek additional warmth under heavy bedclothing.

Consequently, the parents or other attendant of the sleeping infant or young child are ofttimes denied the comfort of continued, restful sleep by their preoccupation with the safety and comfort of their sleeping charge.

Thus, it is well-known that considerable difficulty is experienced in keeping infants and young children properly covered while asleep and also in protecting them against the risk of being smothered by bedclothes.

It is also well-known that infants and young children will, when cold, naturally assume a prone, or prone-natal position to retain or regain body temperature by minimizing the surface area of the body exposed to the cold. It is further well-known that infants and young children will, when too warm, naturally assume a supine position to dissipate body temperatures by exposing a maximum body area to air movements. (These natural tendencies do not fully assert themselves until after the infant has learned to roll from prone to supine and/or from supine to prone positions.)

Accordingly, the primary objects of the present invention are to provide a combination sleeping garment and cover especially constructed to utilize these natural tendencies which will insure that (a) when the wearer assumes a prone, or prone-natal sleeping position he will be adequately covered from his shoulders to his feet and (b) when the wearer assumes a supine sleeping position he will be able to cool off, as required, yet be able to re-cover himself without outside assistance whenever the need for additional warmth is indicated and which, in addition to preventing the sleeping wearer from becoming uncovered when warmth is required, is also so .ing, the invention is designated generally 7.

constructed and so mounted that the wearer may not 'get his head beneath and be smothered. l A secondary object is to reduce the disturbance to the sleeping infant or young child and to make more easy the problems occasioned by changing during thenight. Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from "the following description of the drawing, illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a preferred form of the sleeping garment and cover;

Figure 2 is a plan view showing the cover detached from the garment;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view takensubstantially along a planeas indicated by the line 3 of Figure l, and

, Figures 4 and 5. are enlarged fragmentary sectional views taken substantially along'planes as indicated by thejlines 44 and 55, respectively, of Figure 1.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the combination garment and cover in its entirety and compris- In .the preferred embodiment as disclosed, the garment 8 is a conventional sleeping garment of the type commonly worn by, infants and young children in cold weather, and includes a shirt 9 having'long sleeves 10, and pants 11 with foot portions 12 which form extensions of or are connected to the lower ends of the legs 13 of the pants.

The cover 14 of the combination garment and cover 7 may be formed of any suitable material to contain body warmth, such as blanket material. One hemmed end 15 of the cover 14 is provided with a plurality of longitudinally spaced separable snap fastener sections or halves 16 which are adapted to be detachably connected to mating snap fastener halves or sections 17. Said fastener sections 17 are attached to the back of the shirt 9 adjacent to the shoulders and to rear portions of the sleeves 10 so that the cover end 15 will extend across the back of the shirt 9 and along the back of the sleeves 10. The cover end 15 is preferably of a width to extend adjacent the wrist portions 18 of the sleeves 10. The cover 14 includes hemmed side edges 19 which converge slightly relative to one another from the end 15 so that the lower hemmed end 20 of the cover 14 is preferably slightly narrower than the upper hemmed end 15. Said lower end 20 is provided with separable snap fastener halves 21 which are located adjacent the corners of said lower end 20. The rear or heel portions of the foot coverings or socks 12 are each provided with a mating snap fastener half 22 to which the snap fastener halves 21 are detachably connected for connecting corners of the lower end 20 of the cover 14 to the rear portions of the foot portions or socks 12.

The cover 14 is of a length so that when the upper end 15 thereof is connected to the upper portion of the back of the shirt 9 and sleeves 10 the lower end 20 will extend downwardly to adjacent the foot coverings or socks 12 to permit the wearer to move about with the cover 14 attached to the garment 8, as illustrated in Figure 1. The width of the end 20 and the spacing between the snap fastener halves 21 is such that the legs can be extended to a considerably greater extent that as illustrated in Figure 1, so that the attachment of the cover 14 to the socks or foot coverings 12 will in nowise obstruct the movement of the legs.

It will be apparent that when the infant or young child lies on its back, or supine, the cover 14 will be beneath it. It will be also apparent that when the infant or small child turns over into a prone, or prone-natal position it will be covered from the shoulders to the feet, including the arms. As this prone, or prone-natal position will be assumed by natural reflexes when a sleeping infant or young child is cold, it will be readily apparent that the sleeping infant or young child, when wearing the combination garment and cover, will automatically cover itself when its body requires additional cover. Conversely, as the supine position will be assumed by natural reflexes when a sleeping infant or young child is too warm it will be also apparent that the sleeping infant or young child can automatically uncover itself and the cover 14, when warmth is again required, will always remain in position to provide that warmthall without outside assistance.

It will be also apparent that, since the cover 14 is connected at its ends to the garment 8, the infant or young child is adequately protected from smothering as it is substantially impossible for its head to assume a position beneath the cover 14.

While a conventional sleeping garment 8 has been illustrated in connection with the novel combination garment and cover, it will be understood that the cover can be attached to other types of garments used for sleeping. Also, the upper end 15 of the cover 14 may be attached only to separate sleeve portions which engage the arms while the lower end 20 may be attached to separate socks which engage the feet and ankles or to separate ankle encircling portions only, rather than to sock portions and ankle portions which are connected to the pants legs 13. Likewise, if desired, the cover 14 can be permanently rather than detachably fastened to said garment portions or may be detachably fastened by other forms of fasteners than the snap fasteners as disclosed.

Various other modifications and changes are contemplated, and maybe resorted to, without departing from the function or scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A combination sleeping garment and cover comprising pajamas including pants having ankle covering portions and a shirt having sleeves with wrist covering portions, a generally rectangular cover formed of blanket material of a width to extend from the wrist covering portion of one sleeve to the wrist covering portion of the other sleeve and of a length substantially corresponding to the combined lengths of the pajama shirt and pants, said cover having an upper end fastened to the back of the upper portion of the shirt and to rear portions of the sleeves and a lower end having remote portions attached to rear portions of the pants legs adjacent the ankle covering portions thereof.

' 2. A combination sleeping garment and cover as in claim 1, and detachable fasteners detachably connecting the cover to the shirt, sleeves and pants legs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 258,697 Bindseil May 30, 1882 779,809 Sherick Jan. 10, 1905 2,101,701 Cohen Dec. 7, 1937 2,355,138 Bell Aug. 8, 1944 

